[Wylug-discuss] Ubuntu CDs - Who's Using Ubuntu?

[Dave Fisher]

On Sun, Jan 09, 2005 at 06:45:00PM +0000, Eric Forrest wrote:
> 3) No matter how many clunky applications for Kgnome, everyone else is
> using MS Windows. It's not just the problem of file compatibility. More
> important, is the reassurance of being in the same boat as everyone
> else and the vast amount of Windows for Dummies literature. The way to
> overcome this user inertia is through ease of use. Apple have succeeded
> through elegance and integration. Umbuntu ( I'm guessing ) have chosen
> simplicity and limited function to tame the clumsy Linux desktop.  The
> default desktop install is very important to me. Hours have to be spent
> working round network and hardware problems with distros, I don't have
> the patience to fiddle with the desktop as well.

Agreed.  I've been using Linux for 10 years too and I'm finally
beginning to run out of patience with packages/suites which could and
should have been made usuable years ago.

I've no problem with new and largely unfinished packages, which
developers need feedback on from expert beta testers. It's entirely
understandable that the user interfaces and documentation for such
packages are not completed before their ultimate functionality is known.

On the other hand, I can't see why developers even bother to
release/publish supposedly 'finished' packages that no one else can use
without a mammoth investment in learning.  If it's just something they
developed to satisfy their own curiosity, why foist it on the rest of
the world and waste everyone else's time too?

> 4) Apple Macs work, Linux doesn't. Upgrades will be needed. Debian
> package manager is the minimum standard I'm used to, there's no going
> back to rpm. ( I'm not happy that someone's implied that I can't use
> .deb mainstream packages. Is that true? I need saned to get my parallel
> port scanner working. It's missing on 4.10 install. ).


Yes, you can use standard .debs with all the Debian based distros I've
tried.

See

   http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/PinningHowto

Warning: I've got two very similar Ubuntu systems with identical pinning
configs.  The pinning works perfectly on one, but not on the other.

The most plausible explanation I can think of for that is that I
innadvertently overroad the pinning policy on the dodgy system by
'manually' installing some fundamental libraries (e.g. perl + modules)
from the unstable hoary distribution.  So apt-get upgrade now constantly
prompts me to install a mountain of updates from hoary.

Without the time to re-learn the details of apt (again), I've merely
commented out the hoary lines for my /etc/apt/sources.list and am hoping
that I can re-synch everything if/when the official hoary release comes
out.

If the 6-monthly release proves to be nothing more than an aspiration, I
may reconsider my currently favourable view of Ubuntu.

Dave